Brussels negotiators are seeking to lock Britain into European Union rules on climate change as tensions rise over a future trade deal.
The bloc wants Britain to set up an independent watchdog to ensure it sticks to green commitments and it called on the UK to remain as part of its carbon trading market.
Boris Johnson has repeatedly rejected demands to follow EU regulations as part of a deal, but Michel Barnier has said that so-called level playing field guarantees are “inextricably linked” to striking an agreement.
The UK’s Committee on Climate Change already monitors progress in reducing emissions and reaching targets. The Government would be expected to report such data to Brussels after Brexit, according to the EU’s negotiating mandate.
If targets accepted when the UK was a member state or future agreed goals are not reached, Britain could face punitive measures from the EU – including fines or even the temporary suspension of market access.
The EU wants Britain to consider becoming an associate member of its Emissions Trading System (ETS).
The ETS, the world’s largest carbon market, works by setting a cap on emissions and requiring industry to hold a permit for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.
Unused permits can be traded for cash on the market. Member countries are given carbon allowances, which provide revenue when sold to polluting companies.
But membership requires an acceptance of the EU’s rules and close ties to EU climate policy after Brexit.
The Government has not yet decided on a course of action, and a carbon pricing consultation is set to be published in due course.
Other options could be to set up a UK-only carbon market, join another carbon market such as California’s, or introduce a carbon tax.
Before the withdrawal agreement was ratified, Britain made no-deal Brexit plans to replace ETS membership with a carbon tax. Campaigners described the proposals as “woefully inadequate”.
The proposed tax was a flat rate of £16 per tonne of carbon dioxide for 2019. This would have reduced the incentive for polluting companies to switch to greener technologies compared with the higher ETS rate, which is currently £19.66 per tonne and can fluctuate.
Read rest at Daily Telegraph
The type of thing that Brussels is trying right now is the reason that the UK left the EU. Now that they are free of it they are not going to let Brussels continue to force decisions on them.
Note the comment about the so-called level playing field. This refers to the fact that countries taking strong action on climate change are at a disadvantage to those who are taking less action. If the UK stuck to its green commitments, it wouldn’t gain an advantage over nations still in the EU.
Regardless how Brussels postures, EU must adhere to WTO trade rules or face sanctions. Boris should tell them to f-off. Wait, I think he already has.
The UK will be free to turn its back on EU in entirety down the road, once it rebuilds its links with “the colonies,” that is, the US, in the first place, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, but also India, Kenya, South Africa, and Malaysia. Add China and Russia as potential markets for British goods, unrestricted by EU regulations, and you can see Britain become quite comfortable and even less dependent on Europe for anything, certainly not having to bow to Brussels’ bureaucrats.
Go tell the Euroweenie Union to Go Soak their Heads the same gose for the UN they can all go soak their heads we dont need the UN anymore and in fact we should never had joined in the first place let them go and defend themselves from their own Open Borders foolhardy ideas
Tell the EU to __________ [fill in the blank].
CO2 is not causing climate change.
The “carbon” trading market is based on fraudulent science.